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MONTROSE - Freshman catcher Anastasia Hester doesn't consider herself a hitter with a lot of pop in her bat.

Lackawanna Trail might disagree.

Hester walloped a booming two-out RBI double in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Lady Meteors to a 9-8 win over Trail in Monday's battle of Lackawanna League Division IV softball unbeatens.

"It was really exciting," Hester said. "I'm definitely going to remember it. It was exciting to do something like that. I just wanted to jump up and down when I was running to first.

"I was kind of nervous. It was a good low pitch. I was trying just to hit it, even though I'm not the best hitter."

Trail left fielder Gabby Truesdale never had a chance as Hester launched the ball 200 feet to drive in the winning run.

"Hester is starting to connect on the ball," Montrose coach Mel Lasher said. "She's a very confident player. She's very smart, knows the game and plays with a lot of heart. And playing with heart, I think that's what makes us the ballteam that we are."

Montrose needed to do that after committing seven errors that led to seven unearned runs, including a pair that tied it in the top of the seventh after two were out.

Shelby Croasdale, who had three hits for the Lady Lions, hit a comebacker to Lacy Nealy, but her throw to first was errant and she scored when Cameron Crock ripped an RBI single and took second on the throw to home.

Truesdale followed with her fourth hit of the day, a ringing double to left-center to knot the score at 8 and cap a three-RBI day that included a triple.

"I'm really proud of the way the girls at bat came back," Trail coach John Brander said. "Out of the 17 runs scored, probably 12 came with two outs. Both teams did a nice job of that. But we just gave up too many. Too many mental mistakes. We gave them too many outs and it kept them in the game."

Shelby Stewart had two hits and three RBIs for Montrose, Nealy had two RBI singles and Kayleah Trecoske contributed two hits.

But for all the offense - and Montrose's fielding gaffes - the Lady Meteors made plays when needed.

Shortstop Katie Warner made a sliding grab in the hole to save at least one run. Third baseman Sam Dixon took a sharp one-hopper off her chest and turned it into an inning-ending force play to save another.

Nicki Lewis made a running ice-cream cone catch in center, and Stewart gunned down a runner at home with a perfect strike from left field in the sixth.

"They all (picked me up)," said Nealy, whose ERA dipped to 0.67. "I can't pick one. They were all great plays."

Contact the writer: mmyers@timesshamrock.com @mmyersTT on Twitter

Lack. Trail (4-1, 4-2) Montrose (5-0)

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Croasdale cf 6 3 3 1 Dixon 3b 3 3 1 0

Crock 2b 6 2 1 1 Churco 2b 4 2 1 1

Truesdale lf 6 1 4 3 Stewart lf 5 0 2 3

Rosa 3b 5 0 0 0 Nealy p 5 1 2 2

Smarkusky p 4 0 1 0 Warner ss 3 1 1 0

Ditchey c 5 0 3 0 Hester c 4 0 1 1

Vasky dp 3 0 0 0 Amorino 1b 1 0 0 0

Jones rf 1 0 0 0 Hinds 1b 1 1 0 0

Buck 1b 5 1 2 0 Trecoske dp 4 0 2 0

Duffy ss 3 1 0 0 Hinds rf 1 1 0 0

Trecoske ph 1 0 0 0

Jerauld ph 1 0 0 0

Poirier rf 0 0 0 0

Lewis cf 0 0 0 0

Totals 44 8 14 5 Totals 33 9 10 7

Lackawanna Trail 040 200 200 - 8

Montrose 132 101 001 - 9

Two out when winning run scored.

2B: Gabby Truesdale (LT), Anastasia Hester (MON), Katie Warner (MON).

3B: Gabby Truesdale (LT).

Lackawanna Trail IP H R ER BB SO

Smarkusky, LP 8.2 10 9 5 4 3

Montrose IP H R ER BB SO

Nealy, WP 9 14 8 1 2 2

Susquehanna 6, Blue Ridge 5

At Blue Ridge, Bailey Barnes had three hits, including a solo home run, to lead Susquehanna in 10 innings.

Taylor Decker had two hits, including a triple, and an RBI for Blue Ridge.

At Lakeland, Kim Regan fired a five-hit shutout to lead Old Forge to a Division III win.

Tori Tansley had two doubles and an RBI for the Lady Devils.

Alissa Steier allowed one run and four hits and struck out 17 for Lakeland.

Old Forge (2-4, 3-4) Lakeland (2-4)

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Carey cf 4 0 0 0 Parchinski cf 4 0 0 0

Barnic ss 3 0 0 0 Walsh 3b 4 0 2 0

Tansley c 3 0 2 1 Calzola dp 3 0 0 0

Lee 3b 3 0 1 0 BVerrastro ss 3 0 0 0

Cadwalder 1b 3 0 1 0 Steier p 3 0 1 0

Regan p 3 0 0 0 Chrzan lf 3 0 1 0

Florovito lf 2 0 0 0 GVerrastro c 2 0 1 0

Pascolini 2b 3 0 0 0 Loughney rf 2 0 0 0

Nemetz rf 1 1 0 0 Sedorovitz 2b 2 0 0 0

Bjork 1b 0 0 0 0

Totals 25 1 4 1 Totals 26 0 5 0

Old Forge 001 000 0 - 1

Lakeland 000 000 0 - 0

2B: Victoria Lee (OF), Chelsea Cadwalder (OF), Tori Tansley (OF) 2.

Old Forge IP H R ER BB SO

Regan, WP 7 5 0 0 4 6

Lakeland IP H R ER BB SO

Steier, LP 7 4 1 1 2 17

Dunmore 3, Carbondale 2

At Dunmore, Sarah Ross struck out 11 and Angela Kelly, Katlyn Knebl and Ally Borgia each drove in a run to lead the Lady Bucks.

Sarah Totsky had an RBI for Carbondale.

Carbondale (2-4, 3-4) Dunmore (5-1, 6-1)

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Ogozaly cf 3 1 1 0 Kelly 1b 2 0 1 0

Gardus ss 2 1 1 0 Knebl cf 3 0 1 1

Mauro lf 2 0 1 0 Ross p 3 1 0 0

Gillott 1b 2 0 0 0 Kelly 2b 3 1 0 1

Totsky 3b 2 0 0 1 Borgia rf 2 0 1 1

Kizer dp 3 0 0 0 Cardillo ss 2 0 0 0

Karev rf 3 0 0 0 Tallo 3b 2 0 0 0

Scott 2b 3 0 0 0 Aronica dp 1 0 0 0

Kohut p 0 0 0 0 Scalzo c 1 0 0 0

Revta lf 1 1 1 0

Pegula lf 1 0 0 0

Totals 20 2 3 1 Totals 21 3 4 3

Carbondale 100 100 0 - 2

Dunmore 001 002 x - 3

3B: Angela Kelly (DUN).

Carbondale IP H R ER BB SO

Kohut, LP 6 4 3 3 1 0

Dunmore IP H R ER BB SO

Ross, WP 7 3 2 1 4 11

Riverside 2, Holy Cross 1

At Holy Cross, Hannah Miller had the sole hit for Riverside in its win over the Lady Crusaders. Kacey Orlowski plated a run for the Lady Vikes.

Winning pitcher Lacee Collins gave up five hits and struck out six.

Riverside (4-2, 5-2) Holy Cross (3-3)

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Mickavicz c 1 2 0 0 Leppo 2b 4 0 1 0

Grzyboski ss 1 0 0 0 Kranick cf 3 0 1 0

Orlowski 2b 3 0 0 1 Kobrynich ss 3 0 1 0

Collins p 3 0 0 0 Mackie p 2 0 0 0

Puckett dp 3 0 0 0 Giordano c 3 1 1 0

Buffton 1b 3 0 0 0 Angerson 1b 2 0 0 0

Miller lf 3 0 1 0 Knorr lf 3 0 0 0

Wigley 3b 2 0 0 0 Brannon lf 0 0 0 0

Wzorek cf 3 0 0 0 Griffiths dp 3 0 1 0

Kempa rf 0 0 0 0 LaRussa 3b 3 0 0 0

Kosin rf 0 0 0 0

Totals 22 2 1 1 Totals 26 1 5 0

Riverside 101 000 0 - 2

Holy Cross 000 100 0 - 1

Riverside IP H R ER BB SO

Collins, WP 7 5 1 0 2 6

Holy Cross IP H R ER BB SO

Mackie, LP 7 1 2 0 2 8

Elk Lake 8, Mid Valley 5

At Mid Valley, Kenzi Moon, Beth Ruhf and Faith Kwiatkowski each had two hits and two RBIs to pace Elk Lake to the Division III-IV crossover victory.

Bria Seifert drove in a run for the Spartanettes.

Elk Lake (4-1) Mid Valley (3-4)

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Ruhf 2b 4 2 2 2 Runco lf 4 0 1 0

Moon 3b 4 1 2 2 Hughes cf 3 0 0 0

Tyler ss 4 0 0 0 Reid 3b 3 1 0 0

SKwtkowski c 4 2 2 1 Hedglin c 3 0 1 0

Phillips dp 3 0 1 1 Mercado dp 3 1 0 0

Gacha cf 3 1 1 0 Ford 1b 3 1 0 0

Kasson lf 3 1 1 0 Evanina 2b 2 2 1 0

Warner ph 1 0 0 0 Horvath rf 1 0 0 0

FKwtkowski 1b 4 1 2 2 Roshak rf 2 0 0 0

Dudock rf 4 0 0 0 Seifert ss 2 0 1 1

Harvey p 0 0 0 0 Chylak ph 1 0 0 0

Hanicak p 0 0 0 0

Totals 34 8 11 8 Totals 27 5 4 1

Elk Lake 050 030 0 - 8

Mid Valley 000 001 4 - 5

2B: Sara Kwiatkowski (EL) 2, Bethany Ruhf (EL). 3B: Kenzi Moon (EL).

Elk Lake IP H R ER BB SO

Harvey, WP 7 4 5 0 1 4

Mid Valley IP H R ER BB SO

Hanicak, LP 7 11 8 7 1 3

Contact the writer: sports@timesshamrock.com

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